By JIM KOZUBEK
Union Leader Correspondent

MERRIMACK – Belgian brewer InBev said yesterday on a webcast meeting with shareholders that it will not close any Anheuser-Busch breweries if it takes over the 150-year-old American brewer.

InBev CEO Carlos Brito said there would be no closure of U.S. breweries and cited the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Merrimack as a manufacturing site that would remain operational.

He did say the merger would lead to "synergies" but said it was too premature to identify those targets.

Anheuser-Busch employs 500 people at its brewery at 221 Daniel Webster Highway and paid $1.1 million in taxes last year.

Anheuser-Busch released a statement midweek saying it received a $44.6 billion takeover bid from InBev to acquire all outstanding shares of Anheuser-Busch for $65 per share in cash.

Matthew Coggon, 20, an intern in the utilities department at the Merrimack brewery, said employees received information from plant manager John Mills that a proposal was on the table, but no further information has come.

"Employees are hoping it does not sell because no one is sure what InBev will do," Coggon said.

Other workers leaving after their shifts yesterday declined to speak with a reporter. The company routinely instructs its employees not to talk to the media.

Visitors at the stable to see Clydesdale horses Luke, Tim, King, Reggie, Duffy, Ben, General and Charlie disparaged the sale of the iconic company.

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"Belgium has their breweries and we have ours," said Kelly Daddio of Nashua. "It's an American icon and I would not want to see foreigners owning it."

Heather Clark and Sandra Rivers of Merrimack said they come down to the brewery with their children once a week to see the horses and take a walk.

"My opinion is it is not a good thing if it means any scaling back or any changes to the grounds," Clark said. "We like coming down here. It's a nice place."

Brito said InBev would make Budweiser its flagship beer and begin marketing it to southern China, and begin to market more import and light beers into the United States.

InBev makes Stella Artois, Beck's, Bass and Labatt. Anheuser-Busch brews Budweiser, Bud Light, Busch and Michelob beers. The two brewers are the second and third largest in the world with combined control of 300 brands and brewing 10 billion gallons of beer a year.